Saranade a creepy Part 15 doll

"This year's news in toys is mainly noise.. The dolls of of 1962 tend to be loquacious: Blabby (about $10); Chatty Baby, Crying Thumbelina, Belle Telle, Saranade, and Little Miss Echo ($15 up). Long past mere infant habits like sobbing, blowing bubbles and waggling arms and legs, they answer phones, sing, converse one-sidedly, even repeat the admonitions addressed to them.." --Life magazine Nov. 16, 1962 page 29


What's with the dolls you ask? Well todays subject concerns a particular doll which Life magazine had so briefly mentioned.. her name was/is Saranade.


WARNING: This post won't be useful to you.

Saranade came to my attention via Tim in Bovery of KEBS 1620AM (part 15) located in "Iron Range Country". Tim introduces us to Saranade in this excerpt of his post at part15.us titled:
Part 15 Record Player Transmitter with Creepy Doll!
"Every now and then I stumble upon something I can't resist.  Such is the case with the "Saranade" Doll.  Made by Westinghouse in 1962. Saranade is the name of the doll, a typical 21" plastic girls toy doll.  With a receiver in her tummy! She comes with her own record player and record.  A real, kids 4 speed electric record player.  It plays records through a speaker or you can turn the knob to "doll" and it shuts off the speaker and sends the audio to an AM transmitter within the record player and transmits the record being played to the radio in the doll! 
This appealed to all my interests: record players, low power transmitters, oddball records, and creepy dolls.."- Tim in Bovey, KEBS 1620AM

Saranade in the KEBS studio

I couldn't agree more, the idea of a doll that talks to you via Part 15 was delightful to me - not that I have any affectation for dolls, mind you, but unique uses of part 15 always catches my attention. Sure, there's been countless toys thru the years which had, and do utilize miniature transmitters, but, a little girls doll from a half a century ago?
What most intrigued me is that this part15 doll by chance fell into the hands of a part15 broadcaster, who put her on the air of his part15 station, and then told the part15 community, so now we all know about Saranade.
If you've come this far, you might as well listen to this part15 doll sing:
http://ironrangecountry.com/saranade.mp3

Besides the above audio clip, Tim took about a half dozen detail photos, with descriptions in this pdf  of his "creepy doll", its companion record player, and of Saranadee as she worked her shift at KEBS studio.
I don't actually think she's creepy, if she was it would be even better, but I think he's talking about her voice, which almost seems to have a sinister vibe behind the sweet voice.. She could play a good part in a horror movie.

"..I assumed it would transmit in the AM broadcast band, but it appears not to. The receiver in the doll seems to work fine, no repairs needed there, except she takes a round 9V battery that they don't make any more. She runs on a typical square 9V but the battery doesn't fit in the battery holder molded into her stomach. The radio in the doll has no controls except an on/off switch. No tuner, no volume.."  - Tim in Bovey

The  Radio  Museum provides schematics for this doll and states  it uses a 180 kHz transmitter in phonograph, and a 3 transistor USA made radio chassis tuned to around 185 kHz in the doll.

The model ED-1 is blonde and the ED-2 in brunette... Why no ED-3 redhead?

"..The record player needs work. Motor bearing, spindle bearing, cartridge is weak. But the transmitter seems to work fine. Checking it out on my spectrum analyzer it transmits from about 158 KHz to 220 KHz. Theres a tuning adjustment knob that moves a slug up and down inside a small coil.  Best signal is at about 171 KHz. It's pretty rich in harmonics, too.  I'm not familiar with the Part 15 rules from 1962, or even if this qualified, LOL.   Uses a 25C5 tube.  The short antenna inside the case actually connects to one of the hinges for the lid!.."  - Tim in Bovey
Based on John Reeds information in the preceding blog post,, I suppose in 1962 it would have been operating under 15.202.

"..The receiving antennas for the radio in the doll are wires in her legs!.."  - Tim in Bovey
That's  hilarious. She might  get better reception if you  stand her on her head.

Popular Mechanics featured Serenade in their November 1962 issue with a full page intro "drop test" to determine Serenade's durability.. She passed with flying colors..

"When you drop a doll containing a remote control radio speaker from table top height (and how many times has your youngster knocked something off the table?) you might wonder whether she could survive. Westinghouse's Saranade Doll not only survived the ordeal--she kept on singing! So did the record player which supplies her "voice"--when it was drop tested.. ..Saranade Doll ($40) comes with phono which broadcast remotely through doll speaker. 

--Pages 96, 101

Though it was nationally advertised and featured in many publications, it's unclear how popular Saranade actually was in her day, but there is one collector, Yvonne Barr of Vintage Pretties on Ruby Lane, who had received one when she was young; "..a few years ago; in fact five to be exact I was a new seller to RubyLane and was spending time looking at the items offered for sale. Suddenly a doll appeared on my screen and I was flooded with childhood memories..". She goes on to tell how all she wanted for here 13th birthday was a record player, and that she was angry and embarrassed when she received a Saranade. She gave the doll to her sisters and kept the record player. You can read her full account here: https://www.rubylane.com/blog/...

Cincinnati Enquirer Dec. 15 1963
Page 5. READ HERE

It appears Westinghouse had done some heavy promotion of Saranade for about year, then it just seemed to disappear, and evidently no more were produced. They were pretty expensive at $40 when they first came out in 1962,but by 1963 the price dropped 50%. The 1963 ad at left says: "We have 50,000 dolls on hand, and the only way we can sell them this season is to sell them directly to you . . "
Seem surprising that Saranade even appeared in Billboard magazine:

"I have the original Saranade record AND the instructions, warranty card, etc all the paperwork. It says it will transmit up to 12 feet. If reception gets weak supposedly it will help if you hold the doll by her legs! LOL.
[I need to] get the motor repaired. I'll have to salvage a motor bearing from my record player graveyard in the basement."  - Tim in Bovey
Based on several antique sites and forums, Saranade appears to be in a strong demand these days, with some asking as much as $600 (insane ain't it?). Currently there's one on ebay asking $299, but another in lesser condition just sold having three bidders for about $130 a few weeks ago.

Get yours today!
Saranade's not quite enough transmitter for a part 15 station, but at least you'd be sure it's within regulations.

nnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Life-like "Saranade" doll and phonograph. Lifelike Saranade sings songs, tells stories, teaches how to dance, count and practice good habits as you carry her around indoors or out. Just play any record and, without wires, Saranade's magic voice box will pronounce every word just as it's recorded. Operates on one 9-volt battery (not included). Complete with Westinghouse 4-speed phonograph which can be used with or without doll, and I Saranade record
The Cincinnati Enquirer, Wednesday, December 12, 1963 - Page 10 

Newsweek, Volume 59, 1962

ebay

Origins of Part 15 / Closer look at 15.219

`When it comes to Part 15 broadcasting, there are several methods and options.
The more elaborate broadcaster may follow applicable rules such as 15.221 for Carrier Current installations, which utilize a buildings existing wire system and/or power lines, but most opt for the simpler stand alone installation with a single whip or wire antenna.

• Following Rule 15.229 for FM is excellent if your objective is to cover your house and yard.
  
• Equally sufficient for covering your home area is 15.209 for AM.
• But if your objective is to reach your whole neighborhood and possibly beyond, then following rule 15.219 for AM is the only capable option (other than CC).

But where did these particular rules of Part 15 originate?
It's a rather important question because had not these particular subsets been provided by the FCC, we would not be able to legally broadcast without a license over the public airwaves at all without a license.
 
A long time ago I had asked the question: "Why, and when did 15.219 originate?" over in the Radio Discussions "LPFM and Community" forum, which is the remnant, or rather, a attempted revival of its previous incarnation "Community Radio USA", which was in it's day the most predominate and active Part 15 resource on the web.
My question was specifically in regard to a 2005 NOUO in which a AM1000 Rangemaster transmitter had been cited with 15.209, yet 15.219 had not even been mentioned. This cause me to speculate if perhaps 15.219 had not yet been in existence in at the time of the citation in 2005.. But it had been in existence.. So then why hadn't the NOUO considered the alternative .219 rule?
The question was eventually answered by member named Neil who explained:

radiodiscussions.com

"From my quick reading on this topic 15.219 certification of the Rangemaster only applies if the unit is installed 100% to the specs of the certification. You must install it correctly. Many people feel that buying a Rangemaster automatically gives them a part 15 certified transmitter. If the unit is not installed correctly to specs, then it is not considered certified and falls under 15.209 Subject to get an NAL" - Neil, in Post #10

It's an accurate answer, however, it doesn't account for the fact that in most cases NOUO's for AM always cite both rules and detail how neither compliance had been met. It appears to actually be a requirement that FCC inspecting agents consider both rules (based on the feud agents manual). But on rare occasion 15.219 does not get addressed for whatever reason, such occurrences are perhaps just due to the inspecting agent forgetting to include it in his report.
John Reed of the FCC seems to have addressed this in the following quoted comment:

"A transmitter is certified under Section 15.209 or 15.219. If it was certified under Section 15.209, the radiated emissions must comply with the limits in that section. If it was certified under Section 15.219, the input power and the combined lengths of the antenna, connecting cable and ground must comply with the limits in that section.
There is no need to check for compliance under Section 15.209 when the transmitter was certified under Section 15.219. If the 15.219 system exceeds the standards in that section, it is in violation of the rules.
Of course, if the 15.219 system exceeds those specifications the radiated emissions also will exceed the 15.209 limits. The field inspection folks may check for both simply to show that the system is not compliant under any of the possible standards." -John Reed

www.part15.us

But anyway, from there the discussion pointed to some threads at the Part15.us forums where member Ermi Roos and Neil (radio8z) had already been underway researching the origins of Part 15.
In Neil's research, he had deduced a feasible possibility of the origins of Part 15 broadcasting from bits and pieces puzzled together over the span of the years, and suggested a reasonable possibility of  how it was Part 15 had originally came into existence, and voiced it to the community....

"..The best I have been able to piece together is that following the "Communication Act of 1934" is that in 1937 the rules were amended to allow for what we now know as Part 15 for AM. The intent, as I understand it, was to allow for the use of "phono oscillators" whereby the very expensive audio amplifiers and speakers already used for ratio reception could serve double duty by not only providing for off the air material but also for folks to play their own records through their existing radios..

Phono oscillators were the first part 15 type devices.
Used to broadcast from record player to a nearby radio

Unfortunately, I have no historically valid references for this. I do recall that when I went on the air in 1959 with my KnightKit AM transmitter it was regulated by part 15.211. Where did that go? Perhaps others here, especially Ermi, could comment on this. -Neil Post #28

Neil also had some intriguing theories (not included here) on why the specific 100mw input measurement was implemented, which might have had to do with the actual operating components, voltage and temperatures of the fore mentioned phono-occilators. Neil's proposal, even to an non-technical minded person as myself makes reasonable sense. You can read about in the mist of discussion in the linked thread. But for the sake of getting staying on track, we're going to take a look at what Ermi was discovering...

It is true that, as we learned from Neil, that, in the 1930s, the FCC originally intended Part 15 AM for phono oscillators inside the home. However, Part 15.221, which is intended for outdoor use that is something like community broadcasting, was not adopted until 1990. The FCC uses impractically low field strength limits for 15.221. .. 

LBP provided the  Part 15 carrier current system at Disney World

LPB petitioned the FCC for Section 15.221, and got it. I don't know how close Section 15.221 is to what LPB originally asked for. -Ermi Roos Post #


Ermi, who also was turning up only bits and pieces, sought to track down more specifics about, amongst other things, the story behind the .219 rule, and eventually delved into official channels of communications with the FCC and succeeded in receiving an official response from John A. Reed, the Senior Engineer in the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, Technical Rules Branch. Ermi was surprised by the wealth of information which had been provided... 
"...The only question I asked the FCC was: When did they first enact the rules that are presently in Section 15.219? I was pleased when I received much more than what I asked for. John Reed told me the complete history of the rules governing unlicensed transmitting on the AM broadcast band. He provided a valuable service to the Part 15 AM community by explaining the intent of the rules and showing that the intent had not changed at all since they were first established in 1938..." -Ermi Roos Post #42 

Ermi had basically received the entire story of Part 15, and in-turn presented it to us (in post #40), as explained verbatim from the corresponded response of John Reed (shown below)..
Beginning in 1938 as Rule 25.02, and ended with our present day Rules 15.209 and 15.219.
This is how all of our Part 15 stations came to be.
Below is a copy of John Reeds response in it's entirety. The BOLD CAPITALS inserts and paragraph breaks are mine, and not from the actual letter. I've included this to emphasize key points and make it easier to follow the history provided. Other than that, all info is exactly as stated, and in the sequence as John Reed presented it.

===========================================

FROM THE DESK OF JOHN A. REED, SENIOR FCC ENGINEER, TECHNICAL RULES BRANCH:


OUR ORIGINAL PART 15 RULE:
"The original regulation, Rule 25.02, adopted November 21, 1938, (and currently stated only in Section 15.221(a)) permitted any operation on any frequency provided the field strength did not exceed 15 uV/m at a distance of Lambda/ 2 Pi.

RENUMBERINGS OF THE RULE:
Sometime after July 1, 1939, and before October 27 , 1939, this rule was renumbered Rule 2.102.
On July 21, 1948, in FCC 48-1837, this rule was again redesignated as Section 15.02.
On December 21, 1955, in Docked No. 9288, this rule was again redesignated as Section 15.7.

FIRST MAJOR RULE MODIFICATION:
ALTERNATE PROVISION FOR UNLICENSED OPERATION PROVIDED:
"On July 18, 1957, in Docket No. 9288, the Commission provided specific provisions for unlicensed operation in the AM band in what would be designated as Sections 15.202, and 15.204 of its regulations.
Section 15.202 stated that the field strength limits shall not exceed 24000[/f(kHz)] uV/m at a distance of 100 feet.
Section 15.204 was adopted as an alternative to the field strength limit to avoid the difficulties in making field strength measurements, provided that the input power to the final stage did not exceed 100 mW and the combined length of the antenna plus connecting lead did not exceed 10 feet.

PROPOSED 200 MILLIWATT INPUT:
While the Commission originally proposed to permit an input power of 200 mW in the AM band (3rd Notice of Proposed Rule Making in Docket 9288 adopted November 8,
1956), the adopted limit was reduced to 100 mW to reduce the potential area of interference.


SECOND MAJOR RULE MODIFICATION:
GROUND LEAD RESTRICTION:
"In an Order adopted on November 12, 1974 (FCC 74-1221), the rules were again modified, redesignating 15.202 as Section 15.111 and Section 15.204 as Section 15.113.
Section 15.113 was modified to include the length of the ground lead in addition to the length of the antenna and connecting lead in the 10 feet maximum. This change
was added because the earlier rules had not contemplated anyone using an extended ground plane [lead] to extend the range. The change was made to stop this practice.


UNEXPECTED RESULTS PROMPT A PROPOSAL FOR RULE CHANGE TO INSURE LIMITED RANGE: NO RULE CHANGE WAS ADOPTED:
"On April 14, 1976, in Docket No. 20780, the Commission proposed several changes in Sections 15.111 and 15.113, but did not adopt any of these changes. Paragraph 16, however, made the Commission's intentions clear that it implemented the alternative power measurements in lieu of a field strength limit to make it easier for home builders, that didn't have the means to perform field strength measurements, to demonstrate that their products complied with the standards. However, this rule was never intended to provide a greater operating range than the original field strength limit. The operating ranges were expected to be about equal, but improvements in efficiency were starting to result in increased range, and increased potential interference, for systems operating under Section 15.113.


RENUMBERING OF RULES TO THE CURRENT 15.209 and 15.219:
"Finally, on March 30, 1989, in ET Docket 87-389, the Commission adopted the current regulations. Section 15.111 was incorporated into Section 15.209 without changing the radiated emission limits except to specify the measurement range as 30 meters instead of 100 feet. Section 15.113 was redesignated as Section 15.219 with the only change to the limit being to specify the combined length of the antenna, connection lead and ground lead as 3 meters instead of 10 feet.

CREATION OF RULES FOR EDUCATIONAL CAMPUS BRODCASTING
Also in this order, the Commission established Section 15.221 to permit unlicensed operation in the AM broadcast band on the campus of any educational institute provided the emissions do not exceed the limits in 15.209 as measured from the campus boundary. On November 26, 1990, again in ET Docket No. 87-389, the Commission modified section 15.221 to permit carrier current systems to operate under the older limit of 15 uV/m at Lambda/2 Pi as an alternative to the field strength limits in Section 15.209.


That's the basic history. Let me know if you have any further questions.

===========================================

The day we almost lost the benefits of 15.219
It should be closely noted that the regulation which is now our 15.219, underwent the amended change in 1974 to include the ground lead in the 100ft/3meter rule, specifically with the objective to completely insure that only a very limited range was achievable.. and when the FCC realized that even without that radiating ground lead, 15.219 was still very capable of exceeding the imposed limitations as of that in .209..
It was at this point in 1976 that the FCC had came very close to amending the 15.219 rule for the second time, with an even further limit imposed in .219, so to finally put a stop to extended range capability altogether...
Why they ultimately chose not amend the rule is unclear, but it is certain that if they had, most of our part 15 stations would more likely be broadcasting to the next room, and not the entire neighborhood. I suspect they didn't change it perhaps as not to hinder it's other industry uses, but that's just speculation.

The point is: We're fortunate to have what we've got, because we never were intended to have it, not to the extent of which we received. Beneficial to us is that it's the actual rules and not the original intentions themselves that govern the legality of our installations.

 Ermi commented the same, in his observation concerning the information provided by John Reed, which equally emphasize how fortunate we really are that the proposed rule change in 1976 was never adopted, we got lucky, which is something which should be considered before anyone considers bending the rules or petitioning for greater Part 15 allowances as some have expressed..

"..The original rule had a field strength limit that was close to what is in Section 15.209 today. Section 15.209 appears to us to be very restrictive compared to 15.219, but the FCC's intent in establishing 15.219 was to provide a means for hobbyists, who are not likely to have access to a field strength meter, to demonstrate compliance with the original rule, which is similar to 15.209. The FCC did not intend for 15.219 to allow greater range than 15.209.."-Ermi Roos


So again, keep that in mind, and realize how lucky we are that the proposed changes to 15.219 in 1976 was not adopted, and run your stations in a respectable and legal manner, so not to incite possible reactions by the FCC to possibly again consider an amendment to this rule, which as it stands, provides us the ability of serving our local community on the public airwaves in a less limiting and reasonable capability.


By the way.. Don't you wish they had followed through with the original 200mw input proposal instead of the 100mw which it decided on?... sigh..

~~~~

You may wish to reveiw some previous post related to this subject:


NO LIMITS
http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2016/01/no-limits.html
The elusive FCC 22 page document and it's relation to 15.219

NOUO Notices of Unlicensed Operation
http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2014/04/nouo-notices-of-unlicensed-operation.html
Every NOUO in the AM band from Jan. 2011 thru Jan. 2014 (There were 7 of them).

Intended use of Part 15 in the eyes of the FCC
http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2014/03/intended-use-of-part-15-in-eyes-of-fcc.html
"..Moreover, regardless of strict adherence to the technical limitations in Part 15, a Low Power Communication Device is permitted to operate on a sufferance basis
only,.. ..The Commission never intended that Part 15 be used to establish a low power broadcast facility to service an entire community..."

The 200 Foot Elephant
http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-200-foot-elephant.html
The rule that's not a rule.




Also see:
Part 15 Distiction and the Battle Against Piracy
http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2016/03/part-15-distiction-and-battle-against.html



FCC “Pirate” Advisory Flawed
http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2016/03/fcc-pirate-advisory-flawed.html

RECEPTION/TRANSMISSION Event

The following falls under an instance of finding one thing while looking for something else... I can’t even remember what I was originally searching out to have detoured here, but do know what it wasn't; it had nothing to do with part 15, broadcasting, radio, or anything along that venue..

Yet in spite of it, eventually somehow ended up discovering a very interesting part 15 broadcasting story I have never heard before.

"Humanity's place in the universe is a deep concern of my work with video, and my other installation work that is concerned with how we engage and interpret our everyday environment. "Reception/Transmission" combines these concerns.."
"The (re)broadcast of the soundtrack brings the plasma wave telemetry full circle: what began as invisible light waves returns to them."

Bear with me, I've got to focus to avoid drifting off into the temporary obsession I fell into the last day or two while researching this guy and his work.. fascinating person, but the subject here on this blog is specifically part 15, so I'll attempt to stick to the point.

Nevertheless, a brief, albeit non-part15 prelude is in order.

We introduce Michael Betancourt. Michael is a theorist. He has an MA and a interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Miami focusing on the intersection of history, media and art theory, and he utilizes his own experimental art as a method to develop and test his theories.

His research of history actually began as a child while on his father's archaeological excavations in Greece, while at a palace in Kommos, in the mist of the town which Life magazine coined as the "Hippie capital of the world".

Since then his research and beliefs have expanded covering various thought provoking concepts. His theories claim that there's no distinction between paintings and movies, the  idea of obscenity as logically paradoxical, and the dissections and structures of "digital capitalism", "automated labor", and "aura of information", amongst numerous other themes from thought.

His artistic work played roles in the American Civil Liberties Union's cases against Internet censorship and he has an evident prominence in the legal battle of stopping it.

Betancourt has been published in various academic journals, written a great many books, essays, and noteworthy magazine articles, much of which has been translated into Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, and Spanish. He's also produced over a dozen artistic videos, plus numerous paintings, and art "installations" which have been featured on tv, film festivals, museums, colleges, art  gallery’s and the like. He's even been/is curator of some such centers. I was surprised to discover he wrote a textbook called "The History of Motion Graphics" while supported by a 2011 Savannah College of Art & Design program (SCAD is right here in my neck of the woods), published in 2013, and now rated as the standard in the history of motion graphics.

"..Most of my work happens in notes and very schematic diagrams that get revised into gradually more specific and detailed things. All of my theoretical writing started with that kind of thing. This is why it’s hard for me to separate making things from my theory work.
The label “artist” got stuck on me by others and, like a lot of labels that people use, it’s stuck even though it isn’t a good description. The same can be said about “theorist” I guess. My interest is mostly in the process of creating and implementing frameworks that determine work, which is why I prefer to identify my movies as “designed”." -- Betancourt from interview in 'Senses of Cinema' 2007
 

So he sounds interesting, but what does all that have to do with the subject of Part 15?
Well, I'm getting to that..

Noteworthy also was his formulation of the 'Free Art Project' which is accurately credited a being the forerunner of the now established 'Creative Commons' project. Which incidentally, can be considered as indirectly related to the topic of Part 15, as the latter is associated with the use of royalty free materials often used in our broadcast..

So, since I'm featuring him here, you must suspect Michael Betancourt is also a fellow part 15 hobbyist??
Well, no he's not, or rather, maybe he is, I don't know.. but I suspect not..

Ok, enough of my nonsense. Let's get to the point..

Betancourt may, or may not be a part 15 enthusiast, however he is definitely familiar with the with its rules and regulations, as discovered in his book STRUCTURING TIME, in which he had made a specific point to briefly explain and emphasize the legality of Part 15 broadcasting, and how a particular utilization of a part 15 broadcast was a "crucial" necessity in the success of a particular artistic public "installation" event he had created..
To find out how, let's go back in time about ten years to Mars..

DRAKE NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS Volk 27 Issue 2 March/April 2006
The arts and music scene has a new venue for showcasing local talent, with the March 1 opening of the independent coffeehouse Mars Café in the Drake Neighborhood’s cutting-edge Dog Town. The coffeehouse/wine bar -- located at 2318 University Ave., in the new University Place Lofts Building will feature art installations and live music on an ongoing basis. The first art show opens Saturday, March 4, at 8 p.m. -- featuring Michael Betancourt, a Drake Neighborhood-based artist who received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council to show his video installation called "RECEPTION/TRANSMISSION.
The Mars Café installation is interactive: A soundtrack will be broadcast within a few block radius of the café so that anyone can tune into it on a radio or car stereo. Screenings will take place Friday and Saturday nights through April.....

So lets summarize.. We are finally getting to where Part 15 comes into this story; Its been announced in a college newspaper to take place at a local coffeehouse named the Mars Cafe. Backed by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, Michael prepares to go public with his formulated artistic video installation - Make note; the term "installation" here is apparently often used as an artistic reference which refers to the use of multiple components utilized together to create a single item art production... which, of course also carries the same basic definition outside of artistic circles - but anyway.. 

"..Over the spring of 2006, I had an Iowa Arts Council/NEA grant to do a microwatt broadcast-video piece based on Telemetry called Reception/Transmission that extended some of the ideas in Telemetry and provided a nice conclusion to that group of works. It would have been hard to do the Reception/Transmission piece without the grant support.."

As already mentioned, in Betancourts book Structuring Time, he briefly discussed the exhibition and its use of part 15. Via GoogleBooks you can read those portions of the book on pages 189-190 as displayed below: It's very short, only four or five paragraphs long. If you have difficulty with the Google box, then click here to open in a new full window.






There's two things that made me curious after reading that..


1.Why did he make it a point to emphasize the legalities of part 15, and was it accurate info?
Could it be that he was trying to diffuse a possible visit by the FCC before it happened? Betancourt, wrote this book years after the fact, so the eyes of FCC would not have been a factor.
However, the same info had been provided in the newspapers at the time, with questionable elaboration..

First lets look at what the book said:

“…a radio broadcasting set-up that is compliant with the FCC's Part 15 rules. Broadcasting on FM spectrum at any power without license from the FCC is illegal. However, open-air broadcasting at microscopic power levels below 1/25th of a watt, or 25 milliwatts without a license is allowed...”

– So far, so good, but was it followed by a potential red flag?:

“...transmission distance is variable depending on obstructions, antenna, and other conditions…”

 The potential red flag was the indication of altering the antenna to increase range.. which I didn’t even notice until reflected in how the newspapers had described it at the time.

For example, here's some clips from  various 2006 newspapers:

“... His artwork will be accompanied by a soundtrack that will be broadcast on FM 90.3, a low-wattage station that can be picked up within three blocks of the cafe while the video is on..”

“.. soundtrack will be broadcast within a few block radius of the cafe so that anyone can tune into it on a radio or car stereo..”

 “…The installation is then accessible in a roughly three block radius around the gallery..”

“….through the use of microwatt broadcasting of its soundtrack, which enables anyone with a radio to tune in to it over a limited area, typically up to 3 blocks from the transmitter…”

Uh-oh..

Well, I only said that he was familiar with part 15, not that he actually knew what he was talking about!  Such statements as those in the newspapers would more likely attract FCC scrutiny then it would deter it..  His initial facts were correct, that is until an indication of antenna enhancement and range of up to 3 blocks away.

We know a truly compliant part 15 FM installation could never achieve any further than a few hundred feet, but I think he believed it… All newbies to part 15 usually have misconceptions.

We as broadcast hobbyist are aware how some 'part 15' stations in the past suffered drastic downfalls shortly after being featured in a public newspaper; The saga of KENC is a prime example (I've been meaning to post an overview of the KENC saga in this blog, although most of us are already know it well), the short of it was; he thought his installations were legal, but the reality was he was far from it.

By the way; don't misunderstand me, I’m not indicating that having your Part 15 station featured by outside sources is a bad thing, it's a very good thing! Probably one of the best things that can happen; but in such cases it's imperative that your installations are in fact truly part 15 compliant, thus, completely legal.

Several successful Part 15 AM stations have been featured in nationwide publications such as Radio World, and Monitoring Times, and numerous newspapers before, and those stations became even more popular because of it. But those were truly compliant part 15 radio stations and not rule-bending pirates.

That said, I really doubt the FCC would have bothered with Betancourt’s installation even if they knew compliance had been bent, would the FCC really waste man hours over a signal going a few more blocks than was allowable?, especially with it being a special event? I certainly hope not.

I personally think he should have gone AM for the sake of legal range potentials alone.

But back to the question of why Betancourt had emphasized part 15 in his book, well, it’s most likely that it was nothing more than just a matter of fact.

 "... audio, that began its life as a form of normally invisible radiation to its original form. This transformation is crucial to the meaning of the installation.." - --Omaha City Weekly Feb. 22, 2006

Conclusion is he wasn't so much emphasizing part 15, but rather only the transmission and reception factor itself, and how it was done without an license. He needed part 15 to achieve the whole point of this particular artistic presentation.


**(NOTE: Be sure to read the update at the bottom of this page which contains a email from Betancourt where he answers these questions).
 

“..The (re)broadcast of the soundtrack brings the plasmawave telemetry full circle: what began as invisible light waves returns to them…”

2. The thing I'm even more curious about is how Betancourt's artistic installation went over, what the public perception and impression of it had been.. I've found numerous sources which had promoted the event, but no reports after the fact. Nor could I find any photographs of the event.

I had assumed it took place outdoors, but evidently the projection screen was indoors:

“..the video will be shown as large scale projection in the gallery; …. because it enables its audience to encounter the work before seeing it as well as encounter the soundtrack as an anomalous listening experience beyond the confines of the gallery..”

“The installation is then accessible in a roughly three block radius around the gallery,” Boyer said, “so it is literally and metaphorically throughout the entire space. How interesting for someone to accidentally cross paths with

I’ve formulated a scenario in my minds eye after I viewed this "movie" (shown below).. which by the way I watched last night, at home on my Surface tablet and fed from the earphone jack to my transmitter to listen to the audio on my AM clock radio at about 3am (I pondered if anyone had happened to tune in and wonder what the hell they were hearing!). .. ah, but wait..

First a clarification on exactly what this thing was..

It's not what one would call a “movie”.. So, we'll call it an artistic presentation. I searched for reviews about the ‘movie’ Reception/Transmission to no avail, but I was able to locate an archived 2005 review from FilmThreat about the film TELEMETRY, which is from what the RECEPTION/TRANSMISSION installation had stemmed from... and that's when I finally realized just what this thing was supposed to be.. These were not two different films at all, they were in fact one in the same; ‘Telemetry' was the film itself, whereas Reception/Transmission was the name of the enhanced Telemetry movie experience (the installation. I had somehow missed the core concept.

The latter had incorporated a (temporary) separation from visual perception while maintain connection with actual real-world transmission.. and reception, thus becoming the art "installation".

Anyway, you can read the full review of Telemtry, which describes it quite well:
http://web.archive.org/web/20131915003800/http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/7881/

Here’s some excerpts from the article:

This abstract video work consists of 24 short sections, each between one and two minutes long. The soundtrack comes from the actual telemetry of the Cassini space probe, as it sent back data from its journey to Saturn… The soundtrack itself is remarkable and absorbing. The extremely varied sounds resemble crickets, electronic music, flowing water. They are surprisingly musical, but perhaps this shouldn’t be so surprising, since they are transmitting data about the “music of the spheres.”.. Betancourt has a subtle eye and ear for balancing simplicity and complexity into a satisfying composition… “Telemetry” is a thrilling vision of cosmic dynamism and balance.

I'll end this post with my "minds eye" visualization of how the Reception/Transmission event played out.. Or in other words, something I'm just making up, a possible scenario that came to me as I was watched it..

Ok, college students, many of them recreational plant tokers. They go to the Mars Cafe to hang out, relax, drink some wine and to experience an new art happening.. There's a lot of other students there, many of them know each other. I am inserting myself as one of those students..

Someone hands me a portable radio which is tuned to 90.3FM and tells me that a special presentation will begin soon... I like the poster, it's cool looking. I'm already high, but a few of us take a stroll outside and go around the corner to partake another toke or two.

Suddenly strange sounds begin emitting from the radios in our hands.. what the eff is that noise? We walk back to the galley and go in to discover colorful abstract imagery being projected on a large movie screen, which are kind of pulsing in sync with the sounds coming from our radios... We gaze at the weird images, mouth agape, and murmur dumbfound comments amongst ourselves…

Wow... wow.. oh man.. wow... cool.. this is cool man.. wow.. Whoop! is it over?.. nope.. it's just a transition.. groovy.. wow.. wow..  Did you just say groovy man?.. Yeah, heh heh heh heh... wow... wow.. check that out.. wow... cool... Did I just hear an astronaut say something?.. wow... what??.. uh?.. what did you say?... when I graduate I'm moving to Colorado.. wow.. wow.. wow.. Oh, the omega sign!.. oh... so that's why there was an A at the beginning.. yeah.. alpha to omega man.. That was cool, play it again.... yeah..

 

I wonder how it really went down.

Telemetry (2003-2005) from cinegraphic on Vimeo.

Before I exit..

I realize this post kind of went a little off-course from the theme of this blog --I had gotten so carried away discussing specific details and curiosities about it, that by the time I had finished, and read it back, the topic of part 15 had become so diluted that it hardly appeared to be there at all.. So I edited out about 60% of it, so if this blog post seemed a little disjointed, that's the reason why.

A couple paragraphs would have brought the point across, but without at least some details of Micheal Batancourt’s position, theories, and work, then the beauty of this particular utilization of a Part 15 broadcast could not have been adequately conveyed.

I should also mention that I choose to feature the Reception/Transmission event which had occurred at the Mars Cafe (I liked the name "Mars Cafe"), but it was not actually the first presentation of this installation,.. The original "Reception/Transmission event occurred about a month prior in Omaha at an Echotrope art festival.

Reception/Transmission was installed in Des Moines, IA and Omaha, NE in the Spring of 2006 at 2318 University Ave, Des Moines and the Hexagon Gallery, University of Nebraska, Omaha.

It's unclear to me just how many different locations this event took place, but they all obviously incorporated the "crucial" part 15 broadcast...

Michael Betancourt ‘Installation’ was the most unique use of part 15 broadcasting that I can recall hearing about.
http://www.michaelbetancourt.com/iframe/index.html

Cinegrapic the avant-garde movie, motion
http://www.cinegraphic.net/


UPDATE:
Last night I sent Michael an email after I had finished writing the above:


Hi,
I had stumbled across your Reception/Transmission installation event on the web, and being a part 15 hobbyist I wrote about you on my Part 15 blog here: http://part15lab.blogspot.com/2017/01/receptiontransmission-event.html

Would be interested in any comments you might have about it.

Best Regards,
Rich


I  was pleased to have received a reply this morning, in which he addressed the two things I had questioned in my blog post above....

Hi Rich,

Thanks for sending this! Your coverage is pretty good, and it's always nice to see a write up of something I've done :)

There's two very minor things. My emphasis on Part 15 rules needed to be there because of the grant. While the broadcasting was really a major part of the exhibition, it was also something that could make problems for it getting the supporting money, so I included the explanation. (The three block range was the manufacturer's claim for the unit.) The other minor point is about the antenna--receivers with larger antennas could pick it up a few blocks away if they had a clear line of sight, but that generally wasn't the case; most cars needed to be parked right at the event to hear it.

The UNO installation attracted a lot more attention, but also had a much shorter range, extending only into the lobby and right outside the gallery door, but not through the heavy concrete walls, maybe 35 feet at most. I don't think the college students in Iowa really cared much, but the UNO students were quite engaged with it!

Your write-up was a nice way to start the new year!

Michael